Bonfire
by Kitera
Summary: Things are fairly boring until the witching hour. Too bad no one else seems to notice this problem but Darcy, and she's more than willing to watch the devastation of Loki's last Halloween Trick.


**A/N:** This is part of the TaserTricks Halloween Fic Exchange that is finishing up on Tumblr. My Prompt was "Loki and Darcy attend a Halloween bonfire." I hope that my story meets the expectation of that prompt and is enjoyable for everyone. This hasn't been beta'ed, I did give it a second read through this afternoon after letting it sit for awhile, but if there are any mistakes they are my own. Anyone that read my story Coffeeshop Hijinks, I took it down as I rework a few things. Enjoy~

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**Bonfire**

The bonfire was in the woods, the same clearing as every year. Two years ago Tony Stark had the _wonderful_ idea that there needed to be anti-party to the school sponsored dance. Loki had been sixteen that year and Thor had dragged him along to watch as everyone got horrendously drunk and Thor tried valiantly to win a game of tonsil hockey with Sif.

He was eighteen now, and this would be his last bonfire. Thank Odin. This time next year he would be home in Asgard and these frivolous mortal traditions could be forgotten. However, Loki wouldn't be himself if he didn't intend to make his last Halloween party memorable for all in attendance. Heaven's knew they needed a break from the festivities monotony.

All he had to do was have patience for midnight. Then the real fun could begin.

"So Loki, going to actually join in this year?" Tony asked slapping the God of Mischief on the shoulder.

The heir to Stark Industries was already sloshed and wearing the prototype of his Iron Man suit for a costume. Loki rolled his eyes but plastered a humoring grin on his face for the mortal boy so much like himself.

"I believe this year I may," he murmured spying a form covered in white with gossamer wings, clearly out of place, "If you'll excuse me Stark."

Tony must have spotted her as well for his parting words were, "I gotcha. Have fun, but not too much she's a freshman."

Loki chose not to hear him, the grin on his face much more genuine than it had been ten seconds before as he made his way to the side of the bonfire.

Darcy was disappointed. Actually she was more than disappointed she was totally and unequivocally dissatisfied. This was _supposed_ to be a Tony Stark party. It was _supposed_ to be wild and pushing boundaries with loud music, glow sticks, and body shots. So far the only pushed boundaries she could see was the four and half foot high bonfire and your everyday underage drinking. If she wanted to go to something so lame she would have bought a ticket for the dance and waited for some moron to spike the punch.

It was cold too and she cursed herself for picking the costume she did. Wrapping her arms around herself she huddled close as she dared to the leaping flames with her wide skirts and wings. Worse Jane had abandoned her for her hulking oaf of a short term boyfriend with the killer hair. Don't get her wrong she was happy Jane found someone that made her stop obsessing over her physics notes, but Thor would be gone come July and Darcy was pretty sure she could already see the early signs of attachment in Jane's eyes when she looked at the God of Thunder.

"It's a cold night for such a dress," a velvet voice said catching her attention.

"Look buddy I'm not interested in you drunken odes to my chest," she clipped as she turned around to face the speaker. How many times did she have to fend this guy off? Where the hell was his girlfriend, rumor said she kept the guy on a super short leash at this sort of thing.

Except the speaker wasn't the womanizing sleaze ball of a boy, Tony Stark behind her. No of course not, she could never be that lucky. No, instead, behind her was a ridiculously tall senior boy with eyes so green she could swear they glittered in the glow of the fire. He was in a trim green and black leather get up complete with silver accents and an even deeper green cape with a horned helm. She was staring and damnit she wished he wasn't so damn impressive in that thing. Usually he was all dark jeans and green shirts. _Not_ that she'd been paying attention.

She took a deep breath to pull herself together, and she could see amusement in his eyes, his face lit up for a moment so different from when he brooded in study hall trapped in a corner by all of Principal Fury's favorites.

"Sorry about that. I thought you were our graciously sleazy host."

His lips quirked up in a grin mirroring the look in his eyes.

If Darcy was the sort of person to be unnerved easily she would have been in that moment, except she only grew curious as his eyes flicked away to the rest of the party's attendees for a moment. She knew that look, had watched it flit across Loki's face before Steve Rogers' lunch exploded in his face or Clint Barton's infallible aim went awry and he pegged Ms. Hill with a spit ball right between the eyes.

"You're up to something aren't you? Dude that is way cool, this party is so lame. I thought Stark parties were supposed to be crazy," she chattered her cheeks heating at the prospect of something interesting happening.

And if she didn't know better Loki looked positively intrigued that she liked the idea.

He held out his hand to her, "Come along, then."

She didn't hesitate as she put her hand in his and was enveloped in a rainbow of color and whipping wind made her eyes water as he moved them from their place by the bonfire to somewhere else.

They weren't far from the party when the reemerged from the in-between. The glow of the bonfire still visible but they were outside his net of spells. A glance at the moon said soon it would be time. His grin grew until his companions shiver drew him back to the present. Perhaps they would have been better off had they remained near the flames. Her dress was truly foolish for her to wear in the middle of autumn.

Drapping his arm over her shoulders he pulled her close to his side, his cape forming a barrier against the cold. It wouldn't be much, but it should help a little.

"What are we doing?" She asked.

"Waiting Darcy."

Her heard her quick inhale and chuckled. Oh he knew her name alright. How could he not when she paid so much attention to him in her first two weeks. During which time knowing the name of the mortal seemed that it could prove useful one day. He was right, he could feel her pulse speed up beneath his fingers.

"Thought freshmen were supposed to be beneath seniors notice, especially seniors from other planets," She murmured breathlessly before carrying on forcing nonchalance into her tone, "At least that's the word around the school."

The silly things mortal girls came up with to discourage competition, "And you believe every such word that passes through the school?"

"Only when it makes some sense. Senior boys usually see freshmen as quick conquests."

"And yet you're here alone with me."

"I can handle a demi-god. I did tase Thor when he tried to sneak into Jane's window in September." There was pride in her voice for this feat and Loki could feel his lips curl up in amusement. That night had been eventful, having the police wake the house matron at two am to return her wayward tenant. Oh the yelling that had echoed up to his room from the common room. Thor was grounded until two nights ago for that stunt, the poor woman had simply had enough of Thor's antics.

"Yes you did. Yet you have no such device on you tonight." He murmured eyeing her dress as if to expose just where she couldn't hide the weapon.

"That's what you think," she answered with a wicked grin that practically screamed find out.

A howl echoed through the woods as a mist developed just in front of them. Loki looked up his grin darkening as his spells took effect. The bonfire leaped a few feet higher still the tongues turning a ghastly shade of green and yellow. Groans could be heard from the mist undoubtedly inching its way closer to the party goers. Thuds of awkward footsteps and shadows formed, their exact shapes distorted from recognition.

Darcy pressed tighter to his side for half a heartbeat before pulling away and moving closer to the edge of his spells boundary. Her curiosity caught by what was only the beginning of a horrible nightmare for the drunken teens within.

"Zombies?"

"Among other things." As if on cue, a chainsaw started and Darcy turned back to him an eyebrow arched at him in amusement.

"Someone watched more horror movies than I would have given you credit for ever sitting through."

"You have no idea. How do you people stomach them? They aren't very realistic."

"For starters we like picking out the order the characters die in and two, half the time we don't watch them at all. We're otherwise occupied."

The meaning in her last words didn't go unnoticed by Loki and he took a moment to give her yet another once over. He saw how she might be pretty before, and he felt he might have misjudged her a bit in that first glance a month ago. She was intriguing both in look and action, such a distinct difference from the norm for Midgardians. It was as if she truly didn't care what other's thought of her.

"Would you like to be otherwise occupied?" He asked voice dripping with meaning.

"Uh yeah, I'd really like to get in on that zombie survival game going on in there, from what I can see it looks freaking amazing. Like one thousand times better than Zombie Run. And any resulting zombieism is totally reversible right?" She asked and he was somewhat disappointed that his spells had bewitched her so that she hadn't noticed the offer.

"Entirely." He agreed coming up behind her and wrapping his arm around her waist before they were once more enveloped in the in between for a fraction of a second and reappeared within the mist.

The next hour was spent dodging zombies and a chainsaw wielding maniac, both of the hallucinatory kind created by Loki's magic and the party goers that were temporarily changed into zombies. At first, Darcy had frozen as the screams of the drunken teens assaulted her ears for the first time since midnight arrived, but she'd adapted quickly and that only furthered Loki's interest in her. She wasn't a born fighter but she knew enough about zombies it seemed to keep herself more or less safe even without his help.

But like all good romps, things must come to an end and with the end of the witching hour so to did the mist fade and those turned revert once more to their original state when the fun began. Darcy was laughing her cheeks red from the last hour running through the woods and miraculously dodging out of Natasha's way when she attempted to clothesline her.

Loki for all his recollections on Earth could not remember a moment that he'd so thoroughly enjoyed as that hour of mischief. An hour that was made all the more entertaining by the looks of confusion on the other's faces as the spell wore off and the realization that everyone had just had the craziest trip in Academy history sank in.

Almost as one, they turned to Loki standing once more by the bonfire with Darcy. Grinning, he turned to his companion and a smirk slid across his lips.

"Best of luck my pet," Her whispered against her lips before pressing a quick kiss to them and disappearing before Darcy could so much as gather her wits to kiss him back.

The trickster god's laughter echoing in the woods as the party goer's ire focused on Darcy in his place.

"You are so going to pay for that," She shouted and breathed deep as she faced Thor and Jane both eyeing her with pity while Natasha, Clint, and Tony looked ready to kill her for the last hour despite none of the events having been her fault. "So…"


End file.
